Two Kid Schoolhouse
E's library adventure Oct. 3, 2007
Last night my little E had a fun adventure at the library. I missed it (I was at a grownup lecture!) but got to hear all about it.
Our local library has book discussion nights for the 8-12 crowd. This month it was for the book Everything on a Waffle. She read the book, loved it, and was looking forward to the discussion group. Daddy took her to the library and she found the meeting room and the librarian.
She was the only kid there. The entire time.
She and the librarian had a great time together. They talked about the book, of course, and other books, and Oregon, and who knows what else. At some point the librarian asked her "Are you homeschooled?" I was dying to know the context for that question, but E didn't remember. After a while they came out and fetched Dad and J, and chatted and ate the cookies. When it was time to leave, they were sent home with some of the caramel apples provided for the occasion.
When they picked me up at my lecture, E was glowing. She had had such a great time! She told me "I never felt so comfortable talking to an adult before, except [our former church choir director and her husband]."
Today she told me she might like to be a librarian when she grows up, and work with kids. And she can't wait to go back to the library and see her new friend. |
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Which came first? Sep. 15, 2007
I realized last week that I don't own a copy of Pride and Prejudice. Horrors! I wanted it as I've started reading Miniatures and Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen by Peter Leithart. I couldn't believe I've never owned a copy.
Well, of course this something I need to own, but I requested it from the library so I can start reading right away. I received a "Modern Library" edition. I think these are such nice books: clear, readable typeface, just a pleasure to hold. But I am a little confused. There is a heading on the cover: The Companion Volume to the A&E (written as their logo)/BBC Presentation.
Huh? Did I end up with an adaptation, based on the TV show? How can they call a classic novel, written well before TV, movies, etc., a "companion volume" to the tv show? Isn't it the other way around?
I wrote to Modern Library asking them if this is an adaptation. I don't think it is. I think they are just trying to capitalize on Austen's popularity right now. I won't buy their edition. That cover annoys me. (Just as classics given the Oprah book club stamp of approval do. Or "Now a Major Motion Picture!") It's the book snob in me. I guess I don't want people to think I bought a book because a tv show made it attractive to me Fortunately there are other publishers. |
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Looking for some good books for your middle readers? Sep. 12, 2007
More on The Garden Angel Sep. 4, 2007
Who would have ever thought the author of a book I posted some rather off-the-cuff comments about would come across my little homeschool mommy blog and then leave me a note? Well, now I know better.
So, a bit more about the book The Garden Angel. Because although my little "review" will not have any effect on Ms Friddle or her books, I don't want to leave a bad impression. She was kind enough to respond to me, after all! And so graciously.
Yes, it was fluff - which is what I wanted and needed in a book at that time.
The characters were annoying at times. Maybe they were meant to be. Of course we all know that I am easily annoyed, and perhaps annoyance is better than indifference. I did care enough to finish the book, after all. I have sometimes rejected a novel after 2 pages.
This book was uplifting and did not contain the bleakness I so often find in contemporary fiction. It's true I didn't like the ending. I had set up the ending I wanted fairly early in the story. It didn't happen that way.
I wanted one particular character to "get hers" and it didn't happen - I like bad behavior (sin, if you will) to have consequences. Maybe, though, the author would find that that more contrived than the ending she gave it. It's her book, after all, and I suspect she was happy with the ending.
Even though I doubt she will read this, I thank Ms Friddle for reminding me that real people write books, and real authors might come across even this little mommy blog.
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Summer reading Sep. 4, 2007
Seems like I used to do a monthly reading post. Well, June and July were a blur of packing and moving and unpacking, and August was little better. Still, we read some books.
First, the audiobooks. These were a life-saver during the move. I don't think we'd have made it across the country without them:
- Time Stops for No Mouse by Michael Hoeye. This was a gift from some friends, and I admit I did not hear a word of it - the kids listened to it on their own, while Daddy and I were working. They enjoyed it so much they both read the sequel, The Sands of Time, on their own. I know this is against the mommy rules - letting kids read/listen without previewing the books or listening along. But I'd heard enough good things about the books, and I trust my kids to let me know if something's amiss, so...
- Urchin of the Riding Stars (Mistmantle Chronicles Book 1) by M. I. McAllister. This cd set was loaned by a friend. We all enjoyed it very much. A squirrel epic of bravery. Epic of squirrel bravery? What's with all the fantasy books involving small forest animals anyway? I'll look for the further books in this series soon.
- A "Hank the Cowdog" book, the name of which I've forgotten.
- The Fellowship of the Ring by oh, you know. Actually, we didn't finish this. Started listening to it late in the trip, and tried to finish it at home. The kids say they enjoy it but not at bedtime. Hard to go to sleep after an encounter with a Balrog! And they don't ask for it any other time. So we've shelved it for now. Plenty of time.
Now "real" books. Hm, not many:
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. A fun romp, meant to be full of messages about media and government and letting your mind go soft, but we just read it as fun.
Ben and Me by Robert Lawson. For history (though we didn't learn much from it). Fun.
American Revolution by Bruce G. Bliven. A Landmark book I read for history. Very good overview of the war. The most exciting moments came when we read of the soldiers marching up Skippack Road - we drive on that road frequently!
J's reading had been picking up but is dwindling a bit again. Well, that may not be exactly true. He often has his nose in a book but he is a "browser" and will look through nonfiction books with lots of pictures (think DK "Eyewitness" series) and will read the parts that interest him. I don't try to log those. But I don't nag him about it either. I'm starting to assign him books to read now; he just finished The Winter at Valley Forge (a Landmark book; I can't find it and have forgotten the author's name) and is now reading Hero of the High Seas: John Paul Jones and the American Revolution by Michael L. Cooper.
But for fun he read:
Akiko and the Alpha Centauri 5000 by Mark Crilley.
It's a Dog's Life by John R. Erickson (Hank the Cow Dog).
Pick of the Litter by Bill Wallace.
The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden - his kind of book: he received 3 copies of it as gifts!
E is a reading machine. I can't keep up with her. Only difference between her and me at about her age: she's not into Nancy Drew. This is just some of what she's read:
Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary
Dick Whittington and his Cat by Marcia Brown
Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary
It's a Dog's Life by John R. Erickson (Hank the Cow Dog)
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
More American Girls
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Pippi in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren
Ramona the Pest by Beverley Cleary
Ramona's World by Beverley Cleary
Ramona and Beezus by Beverley Cleary
Too many Beverley Cleary books to keep track of
She needs some new challenges. These books are fine, but pretty fluffy. Last week she complained of having nothing to read. I gave her Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, and Black Beauty, but she wanted none of those. So we have to work on the classics. She does want to read Alice in Wonderland but I want the pleasure of reading that one to her!
Oh, both kids are now reading Little House in the Big Woods. We are using The Prairie Primer this fall, making a notebook so we have something tangible to show for our efforts this year. New state, new rules, you know! Also I think everyone should read the "Little House" books and they are not ones J would pick on his own. We're just reading a few chapters a week and doing some of the activities. E would fly through them if I let her. She's read several of the prequels by Melissa Wiley and Roger Lea MacBride.
As for my own reading... well, I'm even behind in my daily Bible reading - I use Tabletalk magazine as a devotional aid (what a weird term) and am just now on July 10. To the kids I've been reading an old story Bible I found in our books. They're enjoying it and we're filling in on some of the less-familiar stories. So I am not living a Bible-less existence, even if my own reading is poor. I did read two novels for fun:
Garden Angel by Mindy Friddle which was complete fluff and annoying at times, but I finished it. Annoying ending, too. Edited to add: for more on this book, come here
The Girl With The Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier which was just wonderful. I don't usually go for best-sellers because I am usually disappointed. But I kept seeing that picture and finally picked it up at the library. What a wonderful book. I had some moments of annoyance with the main character - a maid in the house of the artist Vermeer - when she seemed weak and didn't do what she ought. Then I remembered how powerless a maid in such a house is. I had a hard time giving up my reading moments once I got into the book, but I didn't peek at the end, as I sometimes do when trying to decide if I want to bother finishing something. Very good, satisfying ending, though not what I expected.
The ending of a book is very important to me. I am very dissatisfied with contrived "happy" endings. I am thinking of the otherwise wonderful book Time of Wonder (about the village that quarantined itself during the time of the plague) which was so good but spoiled by a contrived ending. A bad ending will truly ruin a book for me.
Now I am starting to read Miniatures and Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen by Peter Leithart. I've had the book for quite some time and had intended to reread the novels mentioned before reading it. I've changed my mind and am reading it and the novels as they come up.
So, that's our summer reading. Hope to have a long list for September!
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Depressing Statistic Aug. 21, 2007
Great faith, or a lack of attention? Aug. 7, 2007
We have been listening to an audio version of The Fellowship of the Ring for a while now - we started in the car during our trip (I think about Wyoming) and are about 3/4 of the way through now.
Last night we were listening to the chapter where the company is in the mines of Moriah, trying to get out. Gandalf and the Balrog, etc. All through that scene J was sitting wide-eyed, tense. But E had a strange little smile playing across her lips. As soon as the chapter ended and we clicked off the player, J asked, "Gandalf comes back, right? RIGHT???" Of course we refused to answer.
But E was calm and unconcerned, even happy. Now I know she loves Gandalf - what kid doesn't? I remember being devastated when he disappeared. So I wondered... was she even paying attention? Or does she have so much experience with kids' book and happy endings that she is confident that it'll all come right in the end? |
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New rule Aug. 4, 2007
A new rule I'm instituting in our house: for every book that comes into the house, 2 have to go. This includes textbooks, which will not thrill the seminarian. But we are drowning in books, and we don't have the bookcases or storage space we used to.
We cataloged most of our books so we know what we have. But there're about 8 boxes that never got cataloged because we dithered about them, or were too lazy to deal with them, till it was too late to do anything but box 'em up and toss 'em on the truck. I should have taken them to Goodwill on the last day. I bet we'd never have noticed they were gone.
The kids have as hard a time getting rid of books as the parents do. We are keeping many of our special picture books and of course all the classic children's tales. But every book is not a keeper. Really, I don't think anyone here truly understands that.
Unfortunately I can't think of any incentive to give up books except... the promise of new books! What to do, what to do |
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Where do you find books? Jun. 6, 2007
My friend Norwezter asked me where I find books. Short answer: I dunno... they just seem to appear!
OK. I do browse the library a lot. Ours has a shelf of new books and I'll always take a look. A lot of stuff in the public library is junky, but there are always some gems. I think that's where I first came across the "Green Knowe" books.
The "Hall Family Chronicles" (books by Jane Langton) came to me via Daedalus Books which is a remainder catalog which often has great finds. I found a couple of titles super cheap there and we're filling in with library copies.
Blogs are another great place to find books. I just take note of books that seem interesting and look for them at the library. My list of books (and dvds) to look for is here. It's not at all organized. Some blogs at which I find book ideas: Smallworld, The Common Room, Instapundit, Books for Kids Blog.
Sometimes I get my recommendations from my favorite homeschool message board: Homeschool Fellowship. This group of homeschooling moms (and one dad) offer great homeschooling support and, sometimes, book recommendations.
If I'm in a bookstore and see something interesting, I'll take note of it and look it up at the library. I've gotten more picky about books as our collection has grown and finances have shrunk. I remember a time I'd pick up a few paperback novels at Borders or Barnes and Noble without even thinking about it. This was before kids when it seemed there was money to burn! Most of those books have been sold or donated by now. Very little contemporary fiction is worth reading once; forget about rereading!
One place I rarely find books is on bestseller lists. Usually if a book is really popular, I'll hate it.
Where do you find books? |
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May reading part 2 Jun. 4, 2007
A couple of months ago we started the "Green Knowe" series of books by Lucy M. Boston when we needed a break from Swallows and Amazons. We enjoyed the first two books: The Children of Green Knowe and Treasure of Green Knowe.
This month we finished off the series, starting with The River at Green Knowe, which was similar to the other books: a gentle story with some elements of magical realism, but not what I'd consider real fantasy. Then we listened to A Stranger at Green Knowe while on a road trip; I didn't like that one so much and wrote about it here. Next came An Enemy at Green Knowe which we also got on cd from the library - and it too was very different from the gentle stories we'd come to expect. This had full-on black magic in it; more along the lines of Harry Potter than the other books. It was good, but very different. We finished up with The Stones of Green Knowe which again had the gentleness we'd come to expect and enjoy.
Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright was a re-read from a few years ago which we loved once again.
The Tale of Despereaux - Kate DiCamillo was another audiobook I picked up. It's nice to use those to give me a break. I have to confess that I didn't listen to all of this one, just caught snatches in the car and when I was working around the house. The kids liked it, though.
The Swing in the Summerhouse by Jane Langton is part of the Hall Family Chronicles series. We'd read the first one, The Diamond in the Window, over a year ago, I think. This one involved a magic swing that transported the kids to weird places. I can't say I love these books because the fantasies are just so weird. But they are well-written, exciting, and there's usually a good "lesson" or moral to the story. More important, there are always some literary allusions for the kids to get (or me to point out). They are set in Concord, MA, and the slightly-loony uncle has a "friendship" with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. I love books like that show my kids that the more they read, the more they will get out of the books they read.
Case in point, Johnny Tremain which we are reading now. In a scene in which a family is reading the Bible together, one boy is said to be "asked to read about sluggards and going to ants." If a child reading this is not familiar with the Bible, they're going to be sitting there saying "huh?" about that. We get so much more out of literature when we are well-read. |
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Musings of a slacker homeschool Mom
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